


wind and water, earth and rain

by theformerone



Series: MultiSaku Month 2018 [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Mokuton Sakura, Wave Mission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 19:04:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14837411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theformerone/pseuds/theformerone
Summary: Naruto almost loses himself on the Wave Mission. But in a world where Team Seven was created to prevent another Kyuubi attack, there is always someone there to remind him of who he is.MultiSaku Month Day 3: NaruSaku





	wind and water, earth and rain

Naruto is twelve and he thinks his best friend has died and suddenly the world is on fire. 

He can't breathe around the toxic chakra surrounding him, can't see. All he knows is his rage, and even that is dwarfed by that of the creature living within him. He had asked the fox for his power, but he hadn't imagined it would feel like this. 

It's like his skin is melting, like his bones are being ground into paste, like his blood itself is turning to steam and trying to escape his body. Everything looks red and harsh, and his fingers ache from where claws have protruded from his cuticles. His mouth is bleeding from the fangs that spear out of his jaw.

He thinks he might die. 

He isn't sure of how long he fights. All he knows is that Haku, or Zabuza, or both, or  _everyone_ needs to pay for what they've done to Sasuke. And it  _hurts_ , Sage's balls, it hurts worse than anything has ever hurt Naruto in his entire life.

He's never felt this kind of searing physical pain before. He had always thought the worst thing that would ever happen to him were those years of solitude, his lifetime of isolation. But the demon fox's chakra introduces him to an agony the likes of which he's never felt before, and hopes he'll never feel again. 

He doesn't remember the fight, even as it happens. He knows that he is winning, but other than that - there is nothing. He is stabbed. For every moment he breathes, there is another needle forcing its way into his flesh. He knows they are there, but he can't feel that pain over the heat of the fox's chakra finally released. 

He destroys every last mirror he sees. He throws his fist into Haku's face, and hopes his punch is strong enough to crush the mask, crush Haku's resolve, crush their fucking  _skull._

And then, he is surrounded by a grove of flowering trees. 

He panics. He turns to run, but the branches of the trees move to catch him, to stop him. A dome of wood comes up to cover Sasuke, and Naruto feels bile rise in his throat. He lets out a scream, and tries to move towards his friend, but the planks of wood wrap around him. 

Then a voice, frightened, but full of steel; "Hokage Style: Kakuan Nitten Suishu!"

The trees - they're cherry blossom trees, and they erupt sharp wooden spikes that make him nervous. He has nowhere to go, and Sasuke is trapped, and just when he thought he might have saved the day, everything is ruined. 

The demon inside of him roars through Naruto's mouth, and there isn't anything he can do to stop the sudden flow of acidic red chakra from bursting out of him. He's losing the small bit of control he had when he started this, and he isn't sure of how long he'll be able to last if he loses any more. 

And Naruto is  _scared._

"Naruto!"

From between the trees, Sakura emerges, and Naruto wants to cry with how happy he is to see her and how terrified he is that he'll hurt her if she gets any closer.

"Don't!" he shouts, voice strangled around the scream the fox is trying to let out. He doesn't sound like himself. 

But Sakura doesn't listen to him. She looks determined, brow set. She runs faster than Naruto's ever seen her run, and just when she gets so close the ends of her hair start to burn because of the chakra flowing off Naruto in waves, she lays her palm flat against his chest and leaps back. 

A thread of bright blue chakra connects the two of them, Sakura's palm and Naruto's sternum. And thought the beast howls through his mouth, Naruto doesn't feel any pain. 

He only feels Sakura's chakra nudging against him, reminding him of who he is, reminding his own chakra that it is strong enough to quell the Kyuubi's. 

It feels like it happens in a blink, but the next time Naruto opens his eyes, he is on his knees and Sakura is beside him. The dome of wood protecting Sasuke has receded, and the Uchiha is just beside Sakura, leaning heavily on her side for support as they both worry over Naruto. 

"Sasuke-teme?" he asks, throat raw and feeling tired. "Sakura-chan?"

Sasuke nods slowly, and Sakura offers a watery smile. The copse of cherry blossom trees around them protects them from the noise of the fight still going on outside. From the edge of his vision, Naruto can see that Sakura brought the bridge builder inside of her little prison with her; protecting her charge and her teammate at the same time. 

"You saved me," Naruto says, breathless. 

Sakura blushes a little bit, and shakes her head. 

"Only after you saved Sasuke," she mumbles. "Are you alright?"

"I am," he says, eyes wide. 

He's always liked Sakura, always respected her, and he knows how much doing this has cost her. She's got the most under developed chakra reserves on their team coming from a civilian family, and she's though she has the nature transformations that let her use the Mokuton, the technique takes a lot out of her. That's what they had been told when they started training, and chakra exhaustion was a regular threat to Sakura in her private tutoring sessions with that Yamato guy. 

With Sasuke unconscious and Kakashi-sensei fighting Zabuza, the only person that could quell the fox that Naruto released had been Sakura. And the bags under her eyes, the fine tremor in her shoulders tell Naruto all he needs to know. 

But she looks so steely. So resolved. Happy, even. Tired to her core, but stable. And the concern in her eyes, the lax way she holds Sasuke, and the feeling of her soothing chakra still thrumming against his sternum make Naruto feel so safe, he falls asleep right there. He falls forward into her lap, the smell of the cherry blossoms around him calming him and the fox into cool quietness. 


End file.
